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Editor’s Note: Matches made in heaven
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Deepak Chahar & Jaya Bhardwaj appeared on the cover of the same issue of HT Brunch exactly one year apart. Did we play a part in their love story?
Magazine editors love proclamations of self-validation on our covers, which is why words like Exclusive, Never Seen Before, First-ever Interview will regularly find their way onto our front pages.
It’s a marketing tool, we’re taught. Compel the reader to pick up your magazine, then offer them great stories that make it hard to put it back down.
Imagine my surprise then, when I discovered a connect between our two cover stars and this magazine that would blow the most hardcore coverline writers away!
Our cover story today is a love match: cricketer Deepak Chahar pops the question to his girlfriend Jaya Bhardwaj as they prime themselves for the commitment of a lifetime.
Jaya is a tech entrepreneur from Delhi, and sister of actor-VJ and reality TV star Siddharth Bhardwaj. Sid and Jaya were on the cover of the Raksha Bandhan issue in August 2019. Incidentally, just a year earlier, Deepak Chahar had been on the cover of the same special issue with his sister, Malti. Of course, my editor’s brain started churning: did we have anything to do with the two of them meeting and falling in love? Are we sure they weren’t part of the same shoot… maybe they met on our set?
Alas, none of that is true.
What is a fact, however, is that our cricketer buddy doesn’t shy away from a bit of show-of-affection himself: read about his dramatic proposal, colourful courtship and their upcoming nuptials that are now just weeks away.
On her part, Jaya fields questions about her own self-worth, how she feels being referred to derogatorily as a “WAG”, and their future together.
Matches like these may be made in heaven, but we invite you today to witness this one that happened on a cricket field.
Also in this issue: Nikhil Taneja’s fortnightly mental health column, That Feeling When, takes a page out of my book. Allow me to continue to wear my mask a bit longer, he says, and don’t look at me all weirdly when I do.
A fashion piece on colour-blocking doesn’t just present you with ideas on how to wear things better, but also offers perspective on where the trend emerged and advice on whether it’ll work for you.
In Bed With Sikandar Kher reveals a wry sense of humour, and musician Salim Merchant’s heartfelt obituary to the Apple iPod, which goes out of production forever, makes one wonder: should a guy who has owned a Walkman, Discman, various iPods and now carries his music collection on a phone, think of himself as old? Or, shall we blame it on technology turning too fast?
Write back to me at jamal.shaikh@hindustantimes.com. If I find anything worthwhile, you can be sure I’ll play it up on the cover!
Follow @JamalShaikh on Twitter and InstagramFrom HT Brunch, May 21, 2022
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